Mr. Speakers ETHER Flow Headphone(?) Upgrade(?)

It's interesting, on the two original pairs I measured, non-Flow, they had a bit of a bass boost just like the Flows. But the Flows sounded even leaner and less powerful, softer overal (all in lower registers, that is). The Flows improved staging by a lot and somewhat improved CSDs, though still with major issues. Treble spotlight shifted from upper-mids/lower-treble to peaking around ~10K on Flow, which was more a lateral move of the issue than being better or worse.

In my impressions/measurements thread, one thing I mentioned was that Dan needs to try beta testers that will put him outside his comfort zone. That will mean better sounding headphones and thus less revisions, which is overall better for the company long-term and customers. Granted, my insight could be too outdated now, but when I helped beta test a small upgrade to the Mad Dog, he largely picked fans of his products to beta test. I'd also recommend he move away from measurement gear, since both he and Jude seem to not fully grasp what they're doing or how to read their results. Something about those high-end measurements systems don't seem consistent with what I hear and seem to homogenize results in weird, sometimes hard to explain ways.

What's interesting is how his products have grown in price but never really gotten entirely better in a comprehensive way. Mad Dogs arguably had the best tonal response despite being colored. For the price, they were a well rounded option...once he got to the third version of his third version...

Alpha Dogs improved looks, comfort, and some technical areas, but fell behind with major treble issues that required band aids. With some revisions and further front damping tweaks, they finally became a worthy successor but still a baby step back in a couple areas (hardness, glare, etc).

Alpha Primes became more expensive and started to exhibit very strange sonic issues. Distortion results and tolerances seem to be the biggest offenders. Beginning of the end? The pair I heard in person sounded broken.

Ethers were even better looking and are world-class with design and comfort, but tonal balance once again grew even more problematic, as did technical areas like staging. Tolerances were still an issue, having heard and measured various pairs. CSDs threw the whole "fast, clean planar" assumption to the wind with some of the dirtiest results I've ever seen. (@OJneg and I had a brief but interesting conversation on what driver attributes might correlate with clean CSDs) I guess distortion results are better than T50RP, but that alone didn't pay off IMO.

Ether Flows still haven't fixed CSDs, but they are improved to levels still worse than what I've seen from a good T50RP mod. Tonal balance is still an issue, collectively not better or worse than the Ether, just different. Staging and openness is back, which is good. I guess they respond better to mods to dial down treble.

All in all, we're looking at incredible pricing increase for headphones that are arguably becoming less and less balanced overall if you analyze all possible traits.

Still, I'd be lying if I said the industry didn't seem to be accepting of this trend and sweep arguments under the rug. MrSpeakers has developed brand recognition and a fanbase to the point where all of their products can be hyped and sell incredibly well. Going back to my point about better beta testers, if Dan developed a headphone that even the most critical individuals loved, it would still sell insanely well and be loved at other, less critical sites. There's not a whole lot to lose other than everyone getting outside their comfort zones and leaving egos at the door to work together.

Of course, IMHO, YMMV, BBQ. I've been paying close attention to Dan/MrSpeakers since before he went commercial including behind the scenes stuff.

 

I'm pretty sure there is an objective way to show this. I think there might be some Slant measurements out there. Frequency response, although a simplistic one, is still a major determiner of sound quality. There is also the issue of the dirty CSD floor which @Hands alluded to above. This characteristic is worth further investigation.

The FLOW is an $1800 headphone. The Elear at $1000 was certainly ripped apart by the demanding NY members. I don't see why the FLOW should be held to an easier standard or caveated with a "different strokes for different folks" qualifier.

Sorry, but I have to draw the line here. Certain things are wrong, even if some people like it. This is not Head-Fi.

P.S. @Hands: I think Mrspeakers places a higher priority on time to market. The release of the Elear and Utopia might have forced him to hit the market earlier. Also, his beta testers are there to promote the products on HF. I'm sure there will be a version 1.75 after you publish your mods.

 

I took some Slant measurements a while back and posted them on CS. My only complaint was they were a bit loose/wooly/bloomy for me in the bass and somewhat sharp in treble, but all relative and acceptable for a purposely fun tuning. Maximized T50RP performance, but a great closed headphone. Actually, given my comments on the Mad Dog, the Slants are like what the MD would have been in a perfect world. And out of all the planars being discussed, the Paradox/Slants are what I'd reach for as a good example of an overall balanced headphone.

 

Well, that's another bullshit argument which I think was put forward by Steve Guttenberg at CNET. I used to play piano and violin. I currently play bass and am learning the guitar with my daughter. When I play an instrument, I don't give a shit about plankton, high-fidelity, clarity, or whatever audiophile BS. At the most basic level, I'm hoping I'm hitting the notes cleanly. At a higher level, I'm modulating the phrasing, rhythm, loudness, etc. according to my interpretation of the music and what my ability allows.

Now if I ask someone to record me, I am giving this person creative license to present the recording according to his vision. He may choose to tape mics on the guitar so you can hear all the buzz and sqeaks of the chord changes. Or he can sit back and mic it naturally. Or he can do a combination. Heck, he may even go for an 80s stadium arena kind of sound. The point is that the audio engineer can do an infinite number of things in terms of presenting the recording. However, the audio engineer cannot play the bass or guitar for me and therefore cannot change what I intended.

When a transducer fucks up the frequency response, e.g. nasty treble peak, it doesn't change what the artist intended. It doesn't even change what the audio engineer intended. It simply just fucks up the recording. It's like how would you like a computer or TV screen that automatically applies Photoshop sharpening to every refresh frame? Or automatically apply +50 saturation and +50 yellow. Or even use the standard "Vivid" mode as seen on the display models at Best Buy stores? I'm sure some folks might like the effect; but the fact is, it's wrong.

Wrong is wrong* and it has nothing to do with what the artist or audio engineer intended.

*Keep in mind that we are not talking about frequency response shaping or intentional colouring. There's nothing intentional about sharp treble spikes or stuff that doesn't decay properly or a pothole in the road. Intentional bass boost is more often than not done in poor taste - like mixing good bourbon with ginger ale. This is also wrong.

 

There's nothing wrong with liking wrong. I happen to like the Audio Technica woodies. But I would not go around telling people they are not wrong - they have weird mids.

I just have a problem with the everybody is a winner approach of 6Moons or HF.

 

Sometimes people disagree

 

Planar variance + possible cherry picked unit + Tyll has a greater tolerance for brightness having read enough of his reviews and seen him actually relax with the HE1K (a rough and bright headphone to my ears). All possible factors. Though he did mention a U-shaped sig in the review, which is accurate. But he's too cool and such a big, positive factor in the hobby that it doesn't matter. Like zero said, sometimes people disagree.